IT Product Owner - CDS Hearing Aid

About the role

The Product Owner is responsible for defining requirements, assisting with the overall product roadmap/vision, and driving value for the team and business. They also ensure the team's output directly delivers meaningful business and CDS outcomes and return on investment.

Responsibilities

• Defines highly technical requirements aligned to functional requirements defined within user stories.
• Develops system design requirements in applications (including updating 3rd party applications, team sites, and collaborative tools).
• Identifies and communicates improvement opportunities (functional and non-functional) to improve product quality and performance based on the input provided by technology team members.
• Supports the root cause analysis and remediation process to resolve defects and/or issues reported by product/application teams and stakeholders.
• Supports the implementation of best practices for scalability, supportability, ease of maintenance, and system performance.
• Manages vendors to ensure that quality expectations are met.
• Performs and resolves 2nd and 3rd Level troubleshooting of issues as they are escalated from the Service Desk, support vendors and business.
• Manages the vendor responses for patching and remediation.
• Manages release cycles with current vendors regarding support and future releases for software and hardware.
• Supports new warehouse openings, relocations, and remodels to ensure the supported departments are fully operational.
• Possesses good organizational, time, and understanding of basic project management, with the ability to multi-task, prioritize, and stay well organized.
• Manages cost plans, purchase orders, identifies and remediates risks and invoice timing for our vendors.
• Manages the end-to-end delivery of projects, workstreams, or large-scale programs, ensuring alignment with strategic roadmaps and business objectives.
• Fosters and manages stakeholder relationships at all levels, ensuring clear and concise communication regarding project status, risks, and outcomes.
• Translates technical concepts and project status into clear business terms for diverse audiences, including senior leadership.
• Defines the sprint plan based on the priority outlined within the overall product vision and roadmap.
• Creates and authors user stories with detailed acceptance criteria written in the customers’ voice.
• Collaborates with the team to prepare the estimates for the user stories within the product backlog.
• Prioritizes the sprint backlog (as part of the sprint planning ceremony) based on the sequencing / ranking of features defined in the product roadmap.
• Drives the execution of user acceptance testing (UAT) activities with support from business and technology team members.
• Supports and participates in program level ceremonies including product increment (PI) planning sessions with input and consultation from the Product Manager.
• Performs functional reviews as part of sprint demos.
• Helps with the allocation of resources and provides teams with the necessary support to remediate impediments and reported issues.
• Creates reports highlighting the health of the overall delivery status to program leadership and various stakeholders.

Requirements

• Required Ability to learn supported systems and hardware in Hearing Aid, such as Sycle, NOAH, Interacoustics, Hardware/peripherals, audiometers.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills with the ability to communicate simply/clearly to both technical and non-technical personnel.
• Ability to provide rotating on-call support, including evening and weekend, holiday, and other duties for issues escalated from the Service Desk and business partners.
• Demonstrated strong organizational qualities and have a positive attitude with good interpersonal skills, a team player; able to work cooperatively with others, sharing ideas, and collaborating to achieve team goals.
• Ability to adjust positively to change in direction or assignments and able to work in a fast and dynamic team environment aligning CDS and business objectives with Team’s performance and operations goals.
• Travel expected for support of warehouses and International meetings with stakeholders.
• Demonstrates a logical and structured approach to time management and task prioritization while effectively teaching and mentoring other members of the GHS teams.
• Knowledge of Smartsheet, ServiceNow, and ADO for executive reporting.
• Expert facilitation of PI Planning, Backlog Refinement, Sprint Retrospectives, problem solving, negotiating between competing priorities.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in Technical Program Management, Agile Delivery, or a related leadership role within a large-scale enterprise environment.
• Understanding of Hearing Aid Software/Hardware lifecycle management.
• Knowledge of HIPAA regulations for transactions, security, and confidentiality.
• Experience with system environments and deployments.
• Functional knowledge of Costco CDS systems and procedures, with ability to support, CDS computer equipment at Warehouses, Corporate, and Regional Offices.
• Bilingual English and Spanish skills are beneficial.
• Above general knowledge of Hearing Aid supported hardware, infrastructures, and systems.
• Windows OS environment (eg. Active Directory, Group Policy)
• Google Workspace.
• Microsoft MECM/SCCM and related services.
• SqlQuery, Linux, and programming language(s).
• Cloud Solutions (eg. Azure/GCP).
• Experience with Ticketing systems, Jira, SalesForce, ServiceNow (“CARTS”), ALM and similar for the management of incident/defect/system issues internally and externally.
• Current Work experience with Hearing Aid Software/Hardware.
• Troubleshooting experience with software/hardware including desktop PC’s, laptops, printers, and USB peripherals, windows OS, group Policies, and internet browsers.
• Successful internal candidates will have spent one year or more on their current team.
• Degree or Certifications in Computer Science.
• Proven track record acting as a Chief Scrum Master for team members, business, and vendors.
• Familiarity with financial and procurement systems and the ability to learn Cost Plan and Purchase Order lifecycle.
• Vendor & Contract Management proficiency: Develop knowledge in the procurement lifecycle, focusing on the creation and negotiation of Master Service Agreements (MSAs), Statements of Work (SOWs), and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
• Proficient in Google Workspace applications, including Sheets, Docs, Slides, and Gmail.

Skills

• Expert facilitation of PI Planning, Backlog Refinement, Sprint Retrospectives, problem solving, negotiating between competing priorities.

Benefits

Comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, health benefits - medical/dental/vision/hearing aid/pharmacy/behavioral health/employee assistance, health care reimbursement account, dependent care assistance plan, short-term disability and long-term disability insurance, AD&D insurance, life insurance, 401(k), stock purchase plan to eligible employees.

Pay

Pay ranges from Level 1 - $90,000 - $115,000 to Level 4 - $140,000 - $200,000.

Schedule

Flexible schedule to accommodate the needs of the role and the business.